Fifth Sunday in Lent

Readings for the Fifth Sunday in Lent:

Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8

A Prayer for the Day:

O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 28: A Kind of Fasting You Might Need More Than Fasting from Food

A large part of the reason that Christians throughout history have continued to follow Jesus' instructions when he said, "When you fast...," is that fasting can have the effect of increasing our ability to pay attention to God. In our Apprentice Groups, we practice a kind of fasting that has nothing to do with food: a 48-hour media fast. I've heard the author of the Apprentice Series, James Bryan Smith, explain this by saying that in generations past, fasting from food was one of the most effective ways that Christians could train themselves to deal with the things that distract us from God. Today, however, our options for distraction have multiplied so dramatically that fasting from food may not be the best place for many of us to start, but instead he gives the suggestion of a 48-hour fast from media. Here is part of his description of the exercise:

This week I am asking you to consider fasting from all media for two days. This will be challenging, but don't be alarmed: so far no one has died from it. The forty-eight-hour media fast includes

  • the internet
  • television
  • newspapers and magazines
  • radio stations
  • video games
  • iPods, mp3 players and stereos

What will you do with your time? How will you entertain yourself? Try playing a board game or card game with your friends. Read a book... Take a walk, get coffee with friends, exercise. You are beginning to change your mind, which has been filled with false narratives about who you are and what life is about. For forty-eight hours free your mind from the junk; give some space to the Holy Spirit to renew your thinking. This is your way of saying, "I am not under the dominion of the media. I am going to show that I can live without it." (1)

I think he's on to something that is profoundly wise. Some of us may have attempted "normal" fasting (from food), considered ourselves to have failed at it, and given up on it. There could be a variety of reasons for this. For me, for much of my life, one reason has been that I've eaten so badly and been addicted to unhealthy foods that fasting was a more intense fight against the addiction than I could handle. Whether or not that is also the case for you, perhaps another place to start is to do what Smith suggests and free ourselves from the noise of all of the kinds of media that constantly surround us. That opens up space for God to work in us, which is the goal of any kind of fasting–or any kind of spiritual practice.

Again, as we have already done a couple of times this week, I invite you to consider this kind of fasting as you look ahead to Good Friday. How will you want to shape your life that day? From which things will you want to free yourself so that you can give your attention more fully to God?

A Prayer for the Day:

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer (1) See James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 27: Wesley's Sermon & Chilcote's Prayer

One of my favorite books to use for prayer is also one of my favorites for getting to know John Wesley and early Methodism. Paul Chilcote has written a book, titled Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit: 52 Prayers for Today, which takes each of Wesley's standard sermons and turns them into 2-3 page prayers. They are very useful for giving shape to our prayers and very helpful in communicating the beliefs and practices that gave rise to early Methodism. In the context of this week's discussion on fasting, I was reminded of how helpful I have found Chilcote's prayer-adaptation of Wesley's sermon on the passage we're considering this week, when Jesus said, "When you fast...." (Click here for more information on this excellent book.)

Blessed God,

Your witness to us in scripture is filled with allusions to fasting, and I know that this spiritual discipline is closely connected to prayer.

I know that fasting is much more than simply abstaining from food for one day or parts of days or on special days. Fasting is an attitude, a discipline of the spirit; it has to do with my longing to be closer to you, my dearest friend.

When I am overwhelmed by sorrow because of the hurtfulness of my words and actions, fasting can be the food for my healing.

When I have fallen into a pattern of overeating and have harmed my own health because of it, fasting can remind me that food is a gift and my body, your temple.

When foolish and hurtful desires well up within me, fasting can refocus my energies and my life on what is truly noble.

When I have abused your good gifts of any kind, fasting can restore a proper perspective toward your many blessings in my life.

When I am struggling in my life of prayer, fasting can draw me closer to you in my efforts to share my deepest longings and my heartfelt desires.

When I need to hear your voice, your corrective as well as your comforting words, fasting can open my ears to your still, small voice within.

When, in the midst of my blindness, you offer me a precious treasure to lift my soul, fasting can open my eyes to perceive your blessed presence in all things.

Certainly, it is important for me to fast, as it were, from sin, from pride, vanity, foolishness, and anger, but you also call me to discipline my spirit by self-denial, so that these unholy attitudes and actions cannot take root in my soul.

Teach me then, O Lord, how to fast in a proper way that will enable your loving spirit to shape and guide my life. Keep my heart and mind focused on you at all times. Remind me that fasting is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Enable me to be attentive to the inward and spiritual gift. Guard me from extremes that drive love out of my efforts to draw closer to you. Empower me to pray much and to translate my self-discipline into acts of kindness and mercy to others.

When I fast, O Lord, come to me in all the fullness of your love. Change my heart; clean up my life; conform me completely to your will and to your way; make me zealous to glorify you and offer myself up to you anew for your service. Above all else, make me more loving. Amen.(1)

A Prayer for the Day:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer (1) See Paul Chilcote, Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit: 52 Prayers for Today

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 26: Fasting in the Method of the Methodists

In Scot McKnight's book, Fastingwhich I talked about yesterday, he repeatedly mentions Methodism's founder, John Wesley, because of the central place that fasting had in Wesley's life and in what he taught to the early Methodists. In the book, McKnight says:

The great preacher John Wesley made an observation about fasting that reminds of how customary fasting was in a former era: “While we were at Oxford the rule of every Methodist was (unless in case of sickness) to fast every Wednesday and Friday in the year, in imitation of the primitive church, for which they had the highest reverence.” But fasting among the Methodists began to shift noticeably even as Wesley aged.

"And I fear there are now thousands of Methodists, so called, both in England and Ireland, who, following the same bad example, have entirely left off fasting; who are so far from fasting twice a week (as all the stricter Pharisees did) that they do not fast twice in the month. Yea, are there not some of you who do not fast one day, from the beginning of the year to the end?"

And he cut the Methodists of his day no slack because fasting was for Wesley symbolic of spirituality itself: “Since, according to this, the man that never fasts is no more in the way to heaven than the man that never prays.”

Ouch. (If you're a Methodist reading this–and most of you are–please direct any complaint emails to our founder, not to me.) Even though it's uncomfortable to say, and difficult to believe in today's Methodism, there is no way that we can call ourselves Methodists (in any meaningful sense that has an ongoing connection to what it meant to be a Methodist in our beginnings) if fasting in some form is not a regular part of how we shape our lives with God.

In John Wesley's sermon on the passage which we are looking at this week, when Jesus said, "When you fast...," Wesley observed, "Of all the means of grace there is scarce any concerning which men have run into greater extremes, than... religious fasting. How have some exalted this beyond all Scripture and reason; -- and others utterly disregarded it."

Wesley urged his Methodists to be part of neither of those extremes, but rather (as he did with so many aspects of the Christian life) to find the wisdom of the way in between them. To aid his people in trying to accomplish this, he gave them sound, practical guidance on fasting, which is still very valuable to us today.

Wesley wanted to practice fasting as it was represented in the Bible and in the majority of Christian history. Though he recognized that fasts of different kinds occurred in scripture, he saw the normal fast as abstaining from food for one day. As McKnight mentioned above, early in Wesley's life, he and the Methodists practiced fasting twice per week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. Later, the teaching was reduced to once per week, on all Fridays.

Wesley's own regular practice was to begin his fast on Thursday after supper. This was a weekly way of connecting with Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. He would then end his fast on Friday afternoon, to mark the time of Jesus death on the cross, when he said, "It is finished!" (Wesley allowed himself to take liquids during the fast, and taught the Methodists to do so as well.)

Wesley countered that extreme (those who had "utterly disregarded" fasting) by making it such a central practice in his own life and in the method he taught to the early Methodists. He countered the other extreme (those who had "exalted this beyond all Scripture and reason") by making room for other kinds of fasting–particularly in being careful to never value fasting above one's health. As one alternative to the normal, no food, fast, Wesley suggested what he called "abstinence," which meant that someone would abstain from all foods except those necessary to their health. Another option, which it appears Wesley himself practiced and taught–at least later in his life–was to forego all kinds of "pleasant" foods during the fast.

Whatever the details of it, and whatever the frequency, if we want to find a methodism that has similar effects in moving us toward God as experienced by Wesley and his early Methodists, it is certain that he would insist that our routines include fasting.

As I said yesterday, perhaps a good place for us to start is in thinking ahead toward Good Friday. What will be a natural, whole-person, methodical way for you to respond to all that Good Friday represents?

A Prayer for the Day:

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 25: Fasting in the Bible–Not a Way to Twist God's Arm

One pendulum that has swung in Christian teaching over our lifetimes is the amount of things people teach and write about fasting. In the first helpful thing I ever read on fasting, Richard Foster's chapter on this practice in Celebration of Discipline, he noted, "in my research I could not find a single book published on the subject of Christian fasting from 1861 to 1954, a period of nearly 100 years." Today, in contrast, I just did a quick search online which turned up 157 current Christian books with fasting as their subject! In scanning through the list, I only see three of them that I have read, and honestly–I have no desire to ever read a good portion of them. While I'll give the authors the benefit of the doubt and assume they say some good things, just judging by the titles, there are many which I think don't reflect what fasting was in the Bible. To illustrate, just from the titles of books on this list, these are things which we are led to believe can/should come if we practice fasting:

  • power
  • miracles
  • breakthroughs of different kinds (spiritual, emotional, physical, and–of course–even financial)
  • health, energy and longer life
  • better preaching
  • revival
  • and the one that takes the prize, from one of the book descriptions: "achieving your dreams at 'break neck' speed"

It seems like we've turned this biblical practice into a way of twisting God’s arm into giving us something that, by our fasting, we are showing him that we really, really want. It's kind of like our spiritualized adult version of a toddler’s attempts at manipulating their parents by throwing a temper tantrum. "God, I really want this, and I'm going to prove it to you by going without food for a while."

Author Scot McKnight has written a fantastic book (simply titled Fasting) which provides a much-needed corrective, focusing on what fasting was in the Bible. (If you'd like to read my review of his book, click here.) From the book’s introduction to conclusion, he directly addresses this misconception of fasting and continually reiterates that in the Scriptures, fasting is our appropriate response to God, and/or to some part of life, not “a manipulative tool that guarantees results.”

So instead of fasting for something, biblically, we are given the model of fasting as a response. There are times in life when filling our mouths is out of line and fasting is the natural, appropriate way of us expressing our reaction in a whole-person kind of way by including our bodies in the response. For example, perhaps we lose a loved one and we fast as a way of grieving (2 Samuel 1:1-12). Or, at times we certainly have a profound need to plead before God on behalf of others (Deuteronomy 9:15-21). We may become more deeply aware of those suffering in poverty or injustice (Isaiah 58:3-12). Certainly there will be times when we are overcome by our need for repentance (1 Samuel 7:3-6). And Lent is–in part–a continuation of the ancient Jewish practice of regularly observing days when a particular response to God is appropriate (Leviticus 16:29-30).

If our understanding of what fasting is has drifted this far from what it was in the Bible, it shouldn't be any surprise to us that we have more trouble with Jesus saying "when you fast..." than we do with him saying "when you give..." or "when you pray...." Part of our problem, which McKnight addresses so well in his book and as I've hinted at in previous posts, is that we have come to view our bodies as having little or no roles in our "spiritual" lives. Many of us even think of our bodies as being opposed to living the kind lives that God wants. It's true that our bodies need to be trained, like every other part of us, but they are given to us as allies–or, as Dallas Willard says, our "power packs"–for living life with God.

Fasting is one of the primary practices that can help us to restore the body to its proper place in our efforts to live this embodied life in God's kingdom. Now that we are more than halfway through Lent, I don't expect that any readers will decide to pick up fasting as a Lenten discipline now if we hadn't already done so. But if there is any way in which fasting is beginning to seem inviting to you, we have a day coming which is as appropriate as any to find ways to deny ourselves through fasting: Good Friday. Perhaps you'll want to pause now and prayerfully think about how you will observe that day this year.

A Prayer for the Day:

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 24: Why Your Spiritual Practices Might Be Wearing You Out

In my life, from the time I was a child, I have been extremely privileged to be around devout Christians who have modeled life with God for me very well. At every stage of my life, I've had people who have encouraged me and invited me deeper into the kind of life in God's kingdom. When I was old enough to begin taking some responsibility for the quality of my own life with God, I began trying to do the things that we're taught to do as Christians–things like prayer, reading my Bible, and worship. Though it didn't take much experience with those practices to know that they could be beneficial, for years–probably even decades–I found that my motivation to do them was very inconsistent. It would wax and wane, as I would be dedicated for a while, then get tired and hardly practice anything. Then the cycle would repeat itself.

I didn't understand why that happened. I thought, "Perhaps I just wasn't as committed to God as I hoped. I really need to be serious next time. (But maybe not just yet)." Then I heard one of my heroes, Dallas Willard, say something which made it click for me. It took the pressure off, and has helped me tremendously in arranging my life around my desire for God in the years since. Before telling you what Dallas' statement was, I need to set up its context.

Most of the things you and I have usually been taught are important practices in the lives of people who are seeking the kingdom of God are "doing" things. Practices like those I mentioned above–prayer, Bible study, and worship, as well as others such as service and fellowship–are all things we do, or we could say more accurately, they are practices that require our engagement. For those decades of my life before I heard Dallas' statement, 90-100% of my spiritual practices were in this category. I read my Bible, prayed, worshipped, served others, met with groups, and generally gave myself a very full plate of Christian activity. Though these things were good, I did them to the point where I had no energy left for them. I came to resent (at times) meeting with groups rather than doing the other things I thought I really wanted to be doing. My interest in and energy for prayer, reading the scriptures, and worship were like a roller coaster.

Back to Dallas' statement. He said that to have only disciplines of engagement without also having disciplines of abstinence is a recipe for burnout.

Though it may not appear to be so on first glance, it's a brilliant observation. I had a cycle of wearing myself out with spiritual practices, because they were all of the "doing things" type–disciplines of engagement, and I had nothing virtually nothing in my life with God that was a practice of "not doing"–a discipline of abstinence.

So what are the disciplines of abstinence, the things that we intentionally not do, for the sake of opening ourselves to God's work? Every person's list may be different, but things like sleep, sabbath, and simple living will be important, refreshing practices for most of us. And the church has held on to three other practices through the centuries that fall into this category, because they are so consistently effective at helping us become more open to God: solitude, silence, and fasting.

Since Jesus' statement, "When you fast...," is our focus for this week, and since in yesterday's post I talked about how much it makes us uncomfortable, perhaps it can help us let our defenses down before looking at the practice the rest of the week to look at it in this context. As one of the central practices of abstinence for us, part of its role is to refresh us and help us to rest. It's a practice which, though uncomfortable, is an invitation to us rather than a demand.

As I mentioned yesterday, my experiences with fasting are still fairly limited, but since hearing Dallas' statement and intentionally letting practices of "not doing"/disciplines of abstinence have more of a place in my life, my desire for life with God and energy for pursuing it stay much more consistent. We need to engage, and we need to abstain–both for the purpose of remaining open to God's work of grace.

Tomorrow we will take a surprising look at fasting in the Bible, and then on Thursday, at fasting in our Methodist tradition. We will look at them in the light that this statement from Dallas Willard shed on why many of us get worn out by our practices and how fasting and other "not doing" practices help us to avoid doing so.

A Prayer for the Day:

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 23: Don't Fast To Be Seen By Others

Two weeks ago, we looked at implications of Jesus' instructions when he said, "When you give...," and I began that week by telling a somewhat embarrassing story about a time when I've done exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught. Then, last week, we looked at implications of Jesus' instructions when he said, "When you pray...," and I began with a somewhat embarrassing story about a time when I've done exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught. This week, we look at implications of Jesus' instructions when he said, "When you fast...," and rather than an embarrassing story, I can only give more of a confession: I haven't practiced this one enough to have many stories–embarrassing or not. Therefore, I probably shouldn't be writing anything about it. But it's Lent, so it's hard not to include fasting in the conversation. I guess I'll just hope in the likelihood of a good number of you of you seeing "fasting" in the subject line of this week's messages and deciding that you might find something else to read until next week.

It isn't that I've never fasted. It seems like each year, usually during Lent, I have some different way of experimenting with it. So, I've got enough experience with it that to try to have six helpful posts for this week. My hesitation about writing about it comes less from a lack of experience than it does from the knowledge that any efforts I've ever made in this practice have all been–at best–stumbling, bumbling efforts to which I can imagine God lovingly saying, "Well, thanks for trying."

One of my first and most memorable experiences with fasting was in graduate school. It was an introductory Spiritual Formation course in which we were studying and practicing different classic spiritual disciplines. When we got the syllabus, I noticed that the instructor had a week on fasting, which included the assignment of a three-day fast. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I had it on my radar, which was apparently better than a good number of my classmates. When we got to that week in the course, several of my peers who hadn't read the syllabus very closely did their best to virtually stage a revolt against the professor. How in the world could he expect us to do thatIt became apparent that many of us enjoyed learning about and practicing spiritual disciplines until it came to one which was very effective at making us uncomfortable.

The professor gently guided us back to the fact that we all should've paid closer attention to the syllabus, and he also pointed us to Jesus' statement we're considering this week, not "if you fast," but "when you fast." Then, we all felt better when he assured us that the course requirement was that we attempt the three-day fast, not necessarily that we complete it. Many of my classmates gave up within the first day. I was much more mature than them and made it about 25 hours before throwing in the towel.

We have our subtle ways of giving to be seen by others, or praying to be seen by others, but our religious culture today is so far removed from that of Jesus, that fasting to be seen by others would be pretty obnoxious to most of us rather than being tempting. So perhaps Jesus' instructions about not fasting in order to be seen by others are way too easy for us today. Our work-around for it is simple: if we never fast, we're never fasting to be seen by others. But still, Jesus' statement implies that his followers will fast, and in another place (Matthew 9:14-15), Jesus even says explicitly that–after he is taken from them–his followers will fast. And many of Jesus' friends throughout the centuries have found this practice to be so deeply good that the church continues to hang on to its importance, even though many of us today have almost completely laid it aside.

So, for this week's reflections on our journey of denying ourselves and following Jesus toward the cross, let's all put on our steel-toe boots, realize that this is a practice designed to make us uncomfortable, and know that our loving, gracious Lord and millions of his friends have all walked this way before us.

Tomorrow we'll consider why it makes sense for fasting to have a place in our lives with God. Wednesday and Thursday, we'll look at the traditional practice of fasting from food, including its place in the Bible and in our history as Methodists. In the remainder of the week, we'll look at other types of fasting, where we cut ourselves off from things other than food.

A Prayer for the Day:

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]